Authors: Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.
Genre: Historical fiction.
Length: 587 pages.
Description: A historical fiction account of the life of Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson.
My Thoughts: This novel will leave you with a new appreciation for some of the complexities of the life of Thomas Jefferson, and that period of our nation’s history. As with any good historical fiction, you gain an understanding for how life was lived on a day-to-day basis in a different era. In the early chapters of the book, you develop a great sympathy for Patsy, and later come to rue the utter devastation made of her life and that of her family because of what turns out to be a tragic choice of husband.
Book Club: This would make an excellent book club book, discussion points could include:
- On what issues is our modern society like that of the antebellum Virginians, who know slavery is morally wrong, but continue to go along with it anyway?
- Patsy’s life was shaped by regional and era-specific societal expectations and constraints on women. To what extent do these still exist today?
- What might the second half of the book been like, had Patsy married William Short instead?
If you liked this, you’ll like: My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
